2017 With Richard Kingsmill

Dave Woodhead, Latifa Tee, Declan Byrne, Lucy Smith, Tyrone Pynor and Bridget Hustwaite all join Richard at the Roundtable to discuss this month’s standout music releases. They talk about Kendrick Lamar, Scottish producer Clarcq, Xavier Dunn’s new XD Project, Remi Wolf, Mahalia and Phoebe Go.

Richard speaks to members of the triple j music team to pinpoint their highlights for April. Ebony Boadu, Declan Byrne, Tyrone Pynor, Jade Zoe, Shantan Wantan Ichiban and Abby Butler join Richard at the Roundtable to discuss this month’s standout music releases.  

Richard speaks to members of the triple j team to pinpoint their favourite music for March. Jess Perkins, Shantan Wantan Ichiban, Lucy Smith, Tyrone Pynor, Abby Butler and Dave Ruby Howe join Richard at the Roundtable to discuss this month’s standout music releases.

Richard gets the triple j team together to go through their favourite releases for February. Time to look back at February to find out what the standout releases were for the month, according to the triple j team. Richard gets Latifa T, Bridget Hustwaite, Tyrone Pynor, Josh Merriel, Lucy Smith and Declan Byrne to the Roundtable to discuss their picks.

Richard gets members of the triple j team together to go through their favourite releases for January. Time to look back at January to find out what the standout releases were for the month, according to the triple j team. Richard gets Lucy Smith, Bridget Hustwaite, Tyrone Pynor, Dave Ruby Howe, Ebony Boadu and Declan Byrne to the Roundtable to discuss their picks.  

With her debut album, the Sydney singer/muso/producer Milan Ring has emerged happy and hopeful after some dark times. Milan Ring is a highly regarded talent on the Sydney music scene as a singer/musician and producer. After years of single and EP releases, as well as working overseas with the likes of SZA, The Social Experiment and BJ The Chicago Kid, she’s only now released her debut album. The title I’m Feeling Hopeful suggests there’s been a less positive backstory to get to this point. Milan opens up to Richard Kingsmill about that, how she’s managed to reach a more peaceful place now, and the influence of everything from Jimi Hendrix to mudras in shaping who she is.

For another Ausmusic Month, Richard gets the triple j team back together to go through the best Australian releases for November. Time to look back over November to see what the standout releases were for the month. Richard gets the triple j team to the Roundtable to discuss the likes of The Lazy Eyes, Kye, Northlane, Bec Sykes and more.

Butchulla MC Birdz has delivered a powerful second album, full of purpose, and one that focuses on the importance of family. Birdz has lead up to the release of his second album with a series of powerful singles, including the Hottest 100 hit ‘Bag-la-m Bargan’. The entire Legacy release now shows his strong sense of purpose as a rapper, sharing his stories from the generations of family around him. Richard Kingsmill speaks to the Naarm-based/Butchulla MC about how fatherhood has shaped his outlook, his tough upbringing in Katherine, and working on the album with the help of Trials, Missy Higgins and cousin Fred Leone.

Parcels have always had ambition. But they’ve gone sky high with the vision for their epic second album. With their new album Day/Night, Parcels wanted to reach for the stars. Keen to avoid any second album syndrome, they went bigger, wider and more extreme than they’ve ever gone as a band. Exploring the duality of the band, the darkness and light within the group, they arrived at an epic double album called Day/Night. Self-produced at the La Frette studios in Paris, drummer Anatole ‘Toto’ Serret and Richard Kingsmill go into how the album progressed through an ominous Australian summer, then months of separation during a worldwide pandemic,  as well as playing cover versions for weeks on end.

Since arriving on the scene at the start of 2020, Sydney’s Azure Ryder has continued to impress. Three from three. That’s pretty much it in a nutshell. Riding high since arriving on the scene at the start of 2020, Ladder To The Moon is the third EP from the Sydney talent Azure Ryder, and it continues the upward trajectory of the singer. Despite the lack of travel and writing opportunities she had pre-COVID, this year has still had plenty of highlights, including a recent performance with the Bangarra Dance Theatre. Ryder speaks with Richard Kingsmill about that, some of the new EP’s key songs, and her love of great backing vocals and Kate Bush.

Richard gets the triple j team back together to go through the best releases for October. Time to look back over October and see what the standout releases were for the month. Richard gets the triple j team to the Roundtable to highlight and discuss the likes of Sam Fender, Kito, Remi Wolf, PinkPantheress and more.

At 24, with eight Grammy’s and a game-changing working relationship with his sister Billie Eilish, FINNEAS now has his own debut album. We know FINNEAS has worked alongside sister Billie Eilish every step of the way. It’s resulted in two huge and game-changing albums, as well as numerous awards for the writer and producer including eight Grammy’s. Outside of the sibling connection, FINNEAS has also been working with the likes of Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato. The desire to make and release his own music might appear unnecessary, but it’s remained a key element of his career so far. With the release of Optimist, Richard Kingsmill touches base once again with FINNEAS to talk through the debut album’s creation, some of its key moments, and his aims behind making it.  

The London 20yo has blown up on TikTok with her updated take on jungle and 2-step. PinkPantheress had a few fears about launching her music on TikTok. Would people get it, she wondered? But those fears soon vanished when the positive reactions started flowing. The London 20yo is working off the nostalgic sounds of ‘90s and early noughties jungle and 2-step. With her distinct high-pitched vocal on top, she’s cut through fast to become one of the most tagged new names on the music scene. With the release of her debut mixtape to hell with it, Richard Kingsmill speaks to PinkPantheress about her teenage love for Paramore and My Chemical Romance, how she arrived at her sound, and if she likes the Lily Allen comparisons.

Sam Fender’s debut album signalled the arrival of a voice readymade to inspire festival singalongs. On his second album, he now shows his considerable skills as a songwriter, tackling both the personal and political with equal measures of insight and heart. Seventeen Going Under is Fender’s follow-up to 2019’s Hypersonic Missiles. From the working classes of northern England, an unsettled childhood from divorced parents, plus an undisclosed health issue, has given the now 27yo plenty to reflect upon. Wanting to avoid writing about the pandemic, he couldn’t ignore though the toll it was taking on family, friends and himself. With his activity completely restricted to protect his own health, his observational song writing muscle that he flexed on his debut was now severely limited. Knowing he needed to draw on deeper personal subject matter for his new songs, he channelled a lot of the personal therapy he’s been undergoing into some powerful material. With some big shows in the UK to launch him back on the s

Time to look back over September and see what the standout releases were for the month. Richard gets the triple j team to the Roundtable to highlight and discuss the likes of Holly Humberstone, Central Cee, Adam Newling, Turnstile, Yebba, Big Skeez & Gold Fang, and Little Simz.

With Shadows and Shinings, Drapht is back with one of his best and most cathartic albums to date. With five Hottest 100 hits to his name, as well as the platinum selling 2011 album The Life Of Riley, he’s managed to stay in the hip hop game across two decades now. On Shadows and Shinings, his seventh album, he’s never sounded stronger. Centred around working with familiar allies, the return to roots approach of this album hears him collaborating with the likes of Pressure (Hilltop Hoods), Dune Rats, Jeswon (Thundamentals) as well as his now regular bandmate Eli Greeneyes. Writing the bulk of this album while living in an RV and driving around the west coast of the USA for eight months, Drapht talks to Richard Kingsmill about what this album means to him, and some of the highlights off it.

In 2018, a new Melbourne band arrived featuring ex-members of The Smith Street Band, The Bennies and Apart From This. With the self-deprecating name of LOSER, they hit the ground running with their debut single immediately added to triple j.  Signed to Domestic La La, the label of Violent Soho’s James Tidswell, a debut album from LOSER at the start of 2020 signalled a busy year ahead. Those plans soon disappeared, and in lockdown for much of the year, singer Tim Maxwell started to experience severe anxiety. With medication and some family help, the band ended up channelling their frustrations into building their own studio and writing a second album.  All The Rage is the result, a consistent rock record that feeds off the riffs of Queens Of The Stone Age, Weezer, Smashing Pumpkins and other seminal ‘90s and early noughties acts. Tim speaks here with Richard Kingsmill about what he went through last year, how he and his brother Will returned to their original family home to build the studio, and how aliens i

An album centred around someone’s introversion is the unlikeliest of themes for a hip hop release. Yet, with her fourth album, the UK rapper Little Simz has turned those deepest personal thoughts into one of the most exciting and outward looking albums of the year. Following on from her Ivor Novello winning Grey Area, Little Simz worked closely again with producer Inflo to capture everything from pulsing hip hop beats through to classic Motown as well as grand orchestral arrangements. It all has a widescreen feel, yet lyrically Little Simz focused on her natural introversion to project her thoughts on life, struggle and survival. Running through highlights off the album, Little Simz speaks here to Richard Kingsmill about the ingredients that make up Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, why she used actor Emma Corrin through the record, and how she wrote about subjects like her estranged father this time round.

Richard gets the triple j team together to pick their one standout release for August. It’s the end of August, so Richard asks some of the triple j team to look back across the month and pick their one standout release and why you need to hear it.  

The London duo talk about the new mindset and overall positivity behind their 3rd album. If you’re after an album to escape the times, look no further than Jungle’s latest. Born in the pre-COVID bliss of 2019, Loving In Stereo is a strongly positive and upbeat album. One that captured a fresh personal outlook for the London group. The two guys behind Jungle are Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland (J & T for short). Friends since the age of nine, they’ve shared a lot of experiences. One of those was when their personal relationships both came to an end around the time of their last album. That shared heartbreak coloured the song writing and sound of For Ever. With new relationships in their lives, combined with a desire to write a more uplifting set of songs, Loving In Stereo is a much more direct album which still captures all their varied crate-digging influences. Richard Kingsmill speaks here to Josh about the change of outlook, some of the key moments off the album, and how it all started as a se